A Red-Letter Day

Reading and I were always very close growing up. I remember spending hours at the library, checking out stacks of books at a time. My first book series was the Ramona Quimby books. It's funny to look back on those years, but Reading and I had a lot of fun with Ramona. I was one of those kids who, after I was sent to bed, would always try to sneak in some extra time with Reading with a flashlight or nightlight; I almost always got caught, but those nights I spent with Reading are something I'll never forget.

Reading and I spent hundreds of books together over the years. Magazines, too. It seemed that no matter what we got into, we could always have a good time. Our favorite date was always once a month, when the new Animorph book would come out. We loved those days. They started to pass by quicker each month, though. What started out as a week or two of fun turned into one day, into mere hours. These "quickies" may have been the the warning sign of what was coming; Reading and I weren't really satisfying each other any more; the magic was starting to go.

I'm not really sure what happened to our relationship. We seemed to just drift apart over the years. Maybe it was my affair with video games, or the fights and frustrations we had throughout middle and high school literature classes. It might have been that bitch To Kill a Mockingbird. Or maybe we just grew apart, went different directions. We've tried to get back together several times; it just never seems to work out. Trips to the library, trips to Barnes & Noble... Beth even tried to set us up on dates, but things just weren't like they used to be, and Ender's Game wasn't going to change that. I guess you can't always live out the past.

Sometimes I do look back at those days and miss Reading, but I think we've both moved on. Sure, there's plenty of good memories, but sometimes you just have to let someone go...